We went yesterday to go tubing. I made a "reservation" the day before which was calling and the man on the phone asked my name and how many tubes I wanted. He said he put me on a "list." You cannot make reservations or pay in advance online.
When you get there, it's like entering the scene in the movie Deliverance, back in the woods, tons of broken down buses, vans, at least twenty of them. The road is so narrow and yet people use it to go in both directions, the road is actually dangerous. It's overgrown, it's gravel, so there's dust on everything, all those old broken down buses on both sides of the road just coated in thick dust with cobwebs everywhere on them.
Then, when you get there, it's basically just a field and you park wherever. The bathrooms are open air, barely functional, toilet paper literally hanging on wooden sticks. ONE shower and the day we went I'd say at least 500 people were there, minimum. Actually, when you enter into the bathrooms it's like entering into a cave, it's all stone walled and plaster like seriously in the old days pre-industrial age, I'd say.
So, did making reservations help you in any way? I guess, but there is no "fast lane", the wait is an hour standing around on a gravel hill behind all the people who didn't make reservations, till you get to the top where there is an absolutely filthy, open air cabin with just junk all over the place. Think the broken down cars you met on the ride in was it? Nope, this is really a junkyard/tubing/rafting/canoeing/kayaking place. So, among all the canoes and all, there's rusted out metal junkyard cars. Now, you may think you've made it through the gauntlet. You survived the road in, you ignored every instinct that told you to LEAVE, but you persevered. You avoided the cave toilets and you made it up to the sacred cabin where amazingly, they have electricity (I guess) to operate a credit card machine, who knows. At this point, you are given a ticket and told to go down the hill AND GET IN ANOTHER LINE!!!
Sooooo, the next line is the same dusty mess with people and their dogs and their dogs doing their "business" right next to the line!!! Our scout went to the front to see what was going on and LITERALLY they take one group at a time so if they got a raft, all the people using canoes/kayaks/tubes (the tubes are already blown up and in a pile) have to WAIT until they blow up that groups' raft!!! OMFG this place is operated by IDIOTS with ZERO management skills!
Summary: it would take someone literally two hours to clean up their website and design it to make reservations and pay online. The first wait to pay was an hour. The second wait to get our tubes was an hour. So, if they tell you it takes x amount of hours to float the river, be sure to add in the TWO HOURS you have to wait on NONSENSE!
That said, the river was beautiful and we had a great time! read more